Positioning Madrid as a leading city for international entrepreneurship.

The first European Startup Cities Summit, organised by the key players in Madrid’s startup ecosystem and attended by representatives from 12 European cities, met in Madrid on 3 October. The summit provided representatives the opportunity to share insights about their respective realities and how they are currently working to position themselves as leading cities on the international startup scene.

 

“Unite; Inspire; Connect”. With these three main objectives, Asier Basterretxea Gómez and Victor Teodosio García, co-founders of the Madrid Startup House Foundation, summarise the efforts that the foundation is making to position Madrid as a leading international startup ecosystem capable of attracting talent and wealth to the city and region of Madrid.

In line with these objectives, the Foundation organised the first European Startup Cities Summit at the headquarters of the BBVA Innovation Center in Madrid’s Plaza de Santa Bárbara on October 3.

Representatives from 12 European cities including Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Lisbon, Rome and Helsinki attended the Summit. They presented their respective realities and offered an exclusive opportunity to learn first-hand about the work that Madrid Startup House Foundation’s international counterparts are doing to position themselves as “startup friendly cities”, in turn helping to attract talent and international capital.

The Summit provided an engaging space for discussion among some of the biggest players in the startup ecosystem, including Javier Megias from Startupxplore; Bernardo Martinez from the Conector incubator; Grégoire de Lestapis from Lendix; Francisco Rodríguez from OuiShare and Karel Escobar from Tetuan Valley.

The event, sponsored by Euronext, BBVA, Ferrovial, Telefónica Open Future, Correos, Axon Partners Group, and NH Hoteles, was also attended by Roberto Rey, General Director of Innovation and Promotion of the City of Madrid; Rosario Rey, General Director for Economics and Financial Policy of the Ministry of Economy, Employment and Finance of the Community of Madrid; and Isidro Laso Ballesteros, Director of the European Commission’s Startup Europe Programme.

The old saying “there is strength in numbers” was certainly demonstrated by the public and private players who came together to join forces at the event in support of the development of Madrid’s startup ecosystem. In light of the success of this first European Smart Cities Summit, we can conclude that Madrid has a great deal to contribute when it comes to establishing the city as one of the top “startup friendly cities” in the world.

 

CAPTIONS OF ATTACHED PHOTOS:

Asier Basterretxea-Gómez, Co-Founder and Director of the Madrid Startup House Foundation, at two different moments of his presentation on Madrid’s startup ecosystem.